“What’s the point of life?”

A conversation with my fifteen-year-old son.

Photo of the author and her children in 2020 when they would still take pictures with her.

Yesterday, my fifteen-year-old son called me into the living room. “Mom, can you come here?” he shouted from the couch.

As moms tend to do, I quickly stopped whatever I was doing and sat on the couch with him.

“Can you give me some wisdom?” he asked.

“Um, can I get some context? What’s going on?” I replied, secretly thrilled to be thought of as one who could offer him wisdom. I contain my inner smile in an attempt to preserve the magic.

“Just stuff. You know, wisdom that could help a fifteen-year-old boy with school and other things he has going on.”

“Got it,” I replied. I usually do better when I have a specific situation that I can work with, but I decided to take what I could get.

So I begin…

“There are going to be good days and bad days. The bad days aren’t a reflection of you; they’re just part of this human experience. The trouble happens when we believe that we’re supposed to be happy and joyous all the time. That’s not reality — and never has been.

We’re here to experience the full spectrum of human emotions: happiness, enthusiasm, excitement, grief, fear, anger — all of them.